Joyful Relations
by kalaway7
Summary: Arthur has found a new muggle tradition to spice up Ginny's naming ceremony.


"ARTHUR!"

A shock of ginger hair and wide eyes peered cautiously around the shed door.

"Oh, it's just Uncle Billy. Keep sticking Percy!"

"Daddy, this is stupid."

"It's not stupid Percy. It'll be fun!"

"What in Merlin's name are you doing Arthur?" Bilius sighed, warily nudging open the door.

"Where's Charlie? He was supposed to be our lookout?"

"Charlie went to get cake with Bill. Are we almost done?" Percy complained.

"Can we hit Percy with the bats instead, Daddy?" Fred asked, giggling as he smeared glue all over the worktable, currently covered with tiny bits of paper.

Arthur smothered a grin, "Certainly not! You'd not get any sweets that way."

"Arthur! Molly is having a fit in there. Aunt Muriel has been lecturing her for almost an hour about some baby nonsense, as though the first six survived on a fluke," he laughed, then looked around in bewilderment at the mess spread throughout the shed. "What on earth are you doing?"

Arthur grinned broadly, "It's a pen-ata. The muggles make these fancy containers filled with sweets and cover them with colored paper, and then you beat it with a stick until all the sweets fall out."

Bilius stared at Arthur as though he'd gone mad. He opened his mouth to respond, shut it again, sighed, and asked, "Can I help you?"

"Of course, of course! You can take over for Percy. Percy, go tell Bill to bring me that rope from the broom shed."

Percy was out the door in a second, ducking George's practice swing.

"George! No bats until it's time for the pen-ata," he said, taking the bat from the smirking 3-year-old. "Fred, don't eat the glue and don't wipe it on your shirt!"

"What is it meant to be, Arthur?" Bilius asked, tilting his head to get a better view.

"It's a baby doll! See, the little pink bows and the nappie."

"You're going to have your guests use a bat to beat the sweets out of a baby doll at your daughters naming ceremony?" he asked incredulously.

"Oh, there you are Bill. Wonderful! That should be strong enough," he commented, testing the rope. "Can you stay here and help Uncle Billy finish up? I have to go rescue Mommy from Aunt Muriel."

The twins shrieked with glee as he scooped them both up and performed a few quick cleaning spells while pushing the shed door open with his foot.

* * *

"Thank you so much for performing the ceremony for us, Albus. We really appreciate it."

"It was my distinct pleasure, Arthur. I have a feeling Ginevra is going will be a very talented witch," Dumbledore responded with a bright smile. "Now, young George was telling me about how his father is going to make sweets fall from the sky."

He blushed a bit, "Yes, well, something like that. I'll go see that everything's set up in the garden then."

Arthur made his way through the living room, nodding gratefully to the Fawcett's and shaking Amos Diggory's hand. "Ah, there you are Bilius! Did you string up the pen-ata?"

"I left it to Bill and Charlie. They said Molly's cake was almost gone!"

Arthur's eyes went a bit wide, "Do you have your wand with you?"

"Of course I …blast," he patted his pocket and glanced around to check if it had fallen out. Arthur was already rushing toward the kitchen. He could hear the laughter of both children and adults from the garden.

"What's wrong Arthur?" Molly questioned, shifting the baby to her other shoulder and following him across the room along with Bilius and Dumbledore.

"Umm…not now Molly."

As Arthur threw open the back door, he saw Cedric Diggory taking a wide swing at the piñata. "WAIT!"

BOOM

As Cedric's bat connected, the piñata exploded, showering the crowd with confetti and sweets. Shining words hung in the air above the garden, "Welcome Ginny!" All the kids laughed and threw themselves at the scattered sweets, while the adults clapped and cheered.

Arthur let out a breath, seeing that Cedric was unscathed.

"Oh, Arthur! How lovely!" Molly gushed, watching Ron toddle around and pick up sweets.

Smiling, Arthur put his arm around Molly's shoulders and winked at Bill from across the garden. "Yeah, turned out well, didn't it?"


End file.
